Trouble Comes Waddling
by CopperMinted
Summary: Will Zane be able to protect his family, when disaster comes calling? Set 4 months after s4 ep10
1. Surprise, Suprise!

All was well in the small town called Eureka. It was a late Wednesday afternoon and Jo had just gotten off work. For once, today had been a relatively easy day, nothing super hard, nobody blowing anything up (except for a minor controlled explosion in lab 17a), no fights (only over the last cheeseburger in the cafeteria) and Zane was behaving himself (for once!). Although, Jo was pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that…the beeping of her cell phone cut off that train of thought. Picking up without looking at the caller id, Jo answered.

"Lupo."

"Jeez, JoJo, is that how you greet every random person off the streets?" his voice made her smile.

"Well," she coyly answered with a smirk, "it's not every day I'm dating a hobo."

"Point taken, JoJo." Zane answered with a grumble. "Anyway, I was just wondering if you were doing something for dinner?"

"What did you have in mind?" she replied, getting into her car.

Zane smirked, and Jo could hear it in his response. "I'm thinkin' burgers at Vincent's tonight."

"Sounds good, meet you there at 7," and Jo hung up, looking forward to a relaxing evening bantering with Zane.

While she had never told him what exactly had happened with her time-traveling companions and herself, he had pretty much guessed precisely what had happened. Including their relationship from before the time-skip. They hadn't talked about it though, except for when he'd told her his theory. They had pretty much skirted cautiously around the subject and talked about other things. This had eased his suspicion and distrust of Jo though, and they had become friends. They'd started hanging out more, getting to know each other again and becoming fast friends. Jo had hardly dared to hope again, but she was afraid that she was falling in love with the former felon all over again. Only this time, she hoped it wouldn't end the way her last try with him had. She wasn't sure, but she thought, _hoped_, rather, that maybe, just maybe Zane was possibly developing feelings for her. This was slightly proved by the somewhat-more-than-friendly dinners they'd been having every other night at Vincent's. Their banter had been very lighthearted lately, but with lots of double meanings and lots of flirting. Jo thought things were starting to look up for once in her life.

EUReKA

Zane sat at one of the back tables in Café Diem, where he could easily see whoever came in, but they wouldn't be able to see him right away. He fiddled with one of the buttons on his dressy button-down as he watched the door like a hawk.

He looked up distractedly at Vincent who'd shown up to see if there was any new gossip for his betting pool on him and Jo.

"So, meeting Jo here again for dinner, Zane?" Vincent casually inquired, shooting Zane a sly glance he completely missed.

"Uh yeah, but she's late, something she never is,…" Zane trailed off as Jo practically ran into the café, looking around for him.

Zane was impressed at her clothes, as always. She looked so hot, yet simultaneously beautiful. She wore a black pencil skirt that hugged her frame and a tight, red v-necked, short-sleeve shirt that was just slightly see-through, as Jo was drenched from long, flowy, dark hair to black high-heels. It had started pouring as the sun set, and apparently Jo hadn't brought an umbrella, not that he was complaining. He whistled as she spotted him and said, loud enough for her to hear as she approached him, "well hello there beautiful; looking radiant as ever, even when wet." He smiled at her blush, her favorite crooked grin on his lips as she reached him and dropped a kiss on her cheek.

"Hey, Carter needs us. Sorry, we'll have to eat later," Jo gave him an apologetic half-smile before grabbing his hand and leading him past Vincent, who stared after them unabashedly. Vincent wasn't sure if Jo was just making the excuse up as a pretext, or if it was a valid justification. But he sure as heck wouldn't let a day go by without finding out if something juicy happened while they were alone.

The well-dressed couple walked out into the rain, Zane pulling Jo closer as they crossed quickly to her car on the other side of the street. Getting in the passenger's side, Zane paused a moment in putting his seatbelt on to ask seriously, "Was this a real emergency, or was it just an excuse to make out with me where Vincent's not watching?"

Half turning, Jo shot him an exasperated, yet amused glare and told him off tartly.

"Yes, I made up the excuse to get you alone since I can't go half a day without kissing you at least once. No! Carter actually needs us for something. He paged me 15 minutes ago."

Zane contemplated her answer for a second and then brought up a tricky subject. "Well, I don't know; apparently in the other timeline you and I were pretty much glued together. I talked to Allison yesterday." As he glanced at her, he saw the shock in her eyes and how hard she was gripping the steering wheel and knew he'd gotten her.

"But JoJo, I'm starting to think, that wasn't a bad thing at all," he eased her hands off the wheel and taking them, turned her towards him. Surprise, uncertainty and shock flitted across her face and he leaned forward, meeting her lips softly.

For a moment, she didn't respond, but then Jo melted into the kiss, her lips hungrily molding to his. Zane's hands wound their way into Jo's silky hair and he cradled the back of her head, getting a better position on her mouth. Meanwhile Jo's hands had twisted themselves into the front of his shirt, crumpling the smooth, white fabric.

However, Jo's phone chose that moment to ring and they broke apart instantly. Zane suddenly realized what an uncomfortable position she had probably been in, as she'd tried to get closer to him, but the stick-shift had gotten in the way. Jo fumbled to grab her phone from her pocket, until Zane noticed she didn't _have_ any pockets, or a purse. _Kinky, _he smirked as he took in her disheveled state, her lack of breath, her swollen lips and her slightly rumpled clothing, where she'd hidden her phone in her bra. Knowing that he had done that to **the **Jo Lupo made his ego swell and his heart thump. (A/N: Aaaaaaaaand totally ruining the moment here, but CHEESIEST LINE EVER! Lolsorryguyz'kdonenow XP) Leaning back in his seat as Jo started the car and drove while talking to Carter, Zane admired the way Jo's lips moved as she talked until she hung up.

"Carter has horrible timing," he told her as he quickly glanced out the window as she looked at him for a second while shifting. He didn't want her to see just yet that he'd been checking her out and had become quite absorbed in those soft, delicious-tasting lips of hers that were oh-so-red and molded perfectly to his whenever they were together. They tasted like spices, cinnamon, and had just a hint of gunpowder behind it all and Zane was quite afraid and yet thrilled, that he was becoming addicted to them. Or rather, Jo herself, in general. She was such an intoxicating young woman, and he had liked her ever since he'd stepped foot in Eureka almost three years ago. But after being turned down time after time, he'd eventually given up, figuring the only way she would notice him now was if he played the part of the screw-up, the trickster, and needled her relentlessly. But ever since Founder's Day, when she and five of the other prominent citizens of Eureka had started acting strangely, he thought he might have a chance again. However, he was much more cautious this time, as at first he couldn't figure out why Henry, Allison, Fargo, Jo, and Carter had started acting really weird and there'd always been something fishy about Dr. Oldspice, who'd been redacted less than a month after mysteriously arriving at Eureka.

Wrenching his thoughts back to the present, Zane caught the last part of Jo's sentence and realized she'd been asking him something. "Wait, say that again?" he asked and she complied.

"I said, did you believe her? Allison, I mean." Jo kept her voice low and eyes on the road in front of her, almost as though afraid of what he might say.

"Well, since she basically repeated what I already knew, except for the part about um…you and me,…yea. Yea I do believe her. About everything." Zane stumbled over the words 'you and me' afraid he'd send Jo on the defensive again and quickly changed the subject.

"Are we headed to GD?" he asked, glancing uncomfortably at Jo, wondering if the previous subject would always haunt them like this and they would need to talk about it if they ever moved forward with their not-relationship-relationship thing that was currently happening.

"Yes, although Carter said that "it", here she emphasized with air quotes, "was found inside GD and didn't even set off any alarms, except for one," briskly she answered him, although he noticed the slight waver in her voice that she tried to hide. One thing that he'd always hated was how every time she couldn't deal with something, she would hide. Hide behind that stupid little mask she'd forged, as Fargo's little Enforcer. Something'd go wrong, and BAM! Enforcer mask in place, nerves hidden behind that fake, so fake, calm reassuring voice of reason that sometimes he'd taunt her just for hiding behind her wall of lies that she'd built for herself. Granted, he'd probably caused half of that wall, but he didn't feel guilty as she was the one who'd stepped on his heart several times, until she'd changed. Or rather, the new Jo appeared. The one who had to be handled carefully, like a china doll, or else her fragility would be smashed in an instant. Allison had told him Jo was in a fragile state of mind right now and anything could break it. That's why he'd been trying to avoid fights or _the_ subject with her. Plus the fact that he was pretty sure that he now loved her and didn't want to hurt her had something to do it as well.

He realized that he'd zoned out again as Jo's face was now quite close to his, calling his name repeatedly, her voice growing concerned. Leaning down and giving her a quick kiss, he smiled reassuringly at her and said, "Zoned out, sorry about that. Let's go," as he noticed they were now parked in front of GD in Jo's special parking spot. As head of Global Dynamic's security department, Jo had her own parking spot, office, army (of security officers), and a fleet of the signature black SUV's designed to Jo's own specifications in case they were needed for anything from a high-speed chase to a guard group. In some cases, Jo wielded almost more power than the Director of GD, Douglas Fargo.

Zane didn't bother with the umbrella that he'd brought with him to the café, only pulled up his hood and waited for Jo to lock her car, before walking inside and showing the nightwatch security officer his badge. The officer waved them through without even checking Jo's badge, as he would recognize his boss anywhere. Zane too, was a familiar sight with the chief-of-security, but it was a formality that they stuck with, just in case. Arriving at the rotunda, Carter was waiting for them, along with someone else.

A small, probably five-year-old girl sat on the floor by his side, absorbed with something. She had long wavy black hair that trailed down to her shoulder blades that looked a little like Jo's hair. Zane couldn't tell what color eyes she had since she was still busily looking down at the floor. However, just as Carter started across the floor, a bit of a rueful and puzzled expression on his face, the girl looked up.

Even across the room, Zane could see the piercing blue eyes that widened as the girl looked at them. Getting up from her position of leaning against the stairs by the director's office, she flew at them, exclaiming "Mommy!" and "Daddy!"

Jo just barely managed to catch her, as she'd launched herself at Jo as soon as she was within three feet of them. She stumbled into Zane, who caught her by the waist and held on, peering over her shoulder at the small girl she now held somewhat awkwardly.

Joyful blue eyes smiled back at him as the girl, who definitely looked like a combination of Zane and Jo, hugged Jo's neck and snuggled closer to her.

Jo glanced back at him in shock, his own reflection mirroring hers in her eyes. The little girl just sighed contentedly into Jo's hair and proceeded to fall asleep. Then together, both of them looked at Carter, who by this time had reached them, and was scratching the back of his head. Never a good sign.

"Hey guys, sorry to call you away from your dinner, but uh, this little girl appeared in your office, Jo, just as I was about to leave those reports about the sectronomer explosion in section three last week on your desk. I had no idea where she came from, just that one second she wasn't there, and the next she was. I asked her her name and she said it was Erin Akira Donovan. I thought that maybe she was unrelated, but…" here Carter trailed off in his explanation and shrugged. "She _does _look like you a bit Zane."

Zane, mind blank, lifted the girl's face off Jo's shoulder and examined her again, but much more closely this time. Carter was right, darn him. She _did_ look like him and yet, she had a different figure and longer, leaner face than him.

Meanwhile, Carter continued his story. "So then I asked her what she was doing here and she said "waiting for my mommy" and when I asked her who that was…" he was interrupted by Jo at this point.

"…she said me, I'm presuming." Jo finished his sentence and Carter nodded uncertain as to how they would react.

Zane had a faraway look in his eyes as he contemplated the scientific meaning of space travel (something Jo'd already done) when Jo glanced back at him again, a look of shock on her pretty face, and suddenly it hit him. _Shit! I had a child with Josephina Lupo?_

_Mwahahahahahahaha! evil authoress laughter I love confusing and teasing poor Zane. How is he going to live with the fact that in some future still yet unknown, he had a kid with Jo? And how will Jo react to finding out that her lost love blossoms into something so much more? Well, I know, but yall will have to bear with me here until I can type up the next chapter. I think this is the longest first chapter I have ever written, but luckily, it's all just buildup for an awesome climax. I know exactly where this story is going so yall won't have to wait for uncertainty in the plot, but I am not sure I like the kid's name. So we'll see, may go back and change that. But hope yall enjoy the story!_


	2. Worrying Noises

Jo looked down at the child in her arms, her mind racing. To believe that she and Zane had…had…She didn't even dare think about it, the thought was so foreign in her mind. She'd given up hope of them ever even _really_ dating, so sex…was a little far from her thoughts. So preoccupied with her musings, Jo didn't notice Carter was examining them closely.

_As much as I know this is a shock to Jo, and Zane, she deserves a bit of happiness in her life right now. It hasn't been easy, with only her and Fargo single in our traveling group and she lost her fiancé, Zane, in the old timeline. _Carter scratched at his head again, thinking of all the laws that had probably been broken just by the girl arriving here. They were going to have a lot of work to do with covering this up. Especially from Vincent, Mr. Gossip. _They even look like a cute family_, Carter thought, watching the two adults react to the situation. While Jo looked stunned and kept glancing down at the girl as if to make sure she was really real, Zane just looked thoughtful, and kept glancing between Jo and the girl, Erin, like he was trying to figure something out. Everyone was startled out of their thoughts though, by the high voice that piped up from Jo's hair.

"Daddy?" Erin peered out from Jo's dark hair, her own hair blending with her mother's.

"Uh, yeah, kiddo?" It took Zane a moment to realize she was talking to him. It was all still so unbelievable. Well, maybe less so, since JoJo and the others had done nearly the same thing.

"I'm hungry." Erin stared plaintively at him over Jo's shoulder, head cocked slightly at an angle as she crossed her arms in front of her, a pose so similar to that of Jo that Zane almost laughed.

"We'll get you something sweetheart." Zane absentmindedly smoothed a hand over her hair, looking at Jo. Raising his eyebrows at her, silently asking, Jo handed Erin to him and he bent back to her ear and whispered "We need to talk, JoJo." And looking back at Carter, he said in a normal tone, "We'll take her to Vincent's then uh, home." Sending Jo a long, meaningful look, Zane turned, with Erin in his arms and started walking back across the rotunda.

Jo sighed, and holding a hand to her forehead, gave Carter a weary look. "See you later, I'm sure," and she turned and left, following Zane.

Jo stepped off the curb and approached her car, her eyes on the figures standing next to it. Zane stood leaning against her blue Subaru with Erin in his arms, and spoke in a childish voice, occasionally poking her nose. She was giggling and smacking him playfully on his shoulder with her small hands. Pausing for a second, and almost missing her next step, Jo watched the two interact and saw the definite relationship between the two. And he looked so natural, playing with his daughter. She really wished that this had all happened the normal way, and that she could have the real family she really wanted with the two people she was currently watching, that were leaning against her car.

Knowing that this was impossible, even with the way that Zane and she were progressing in their relationship, made Jo feel depression creeping on the edges of her conscious. Stumbling once, into the car, she basically announced her presence as Zane's attention instantly switched from his daughter to his girlfriend. His eyes focused on her, his face crinkling into a frown as she got in, albeit somewhat unsteadily. Sliding Erin into the back and buckling her in, Zane got into the car, where both adults just sat for a moment. Zane covered her hand with his on the stick-shift. Lowering his voice so that Erin couldn't hear him from where she was gazing curiously out the window in the back, Zane looked earnestly at Jo as his thumb stroked the top of her hand and said slowly, "Jo, we're going to have to decide what to do with her. She'll have to stay with one of us and a cover story made up for her. Also we're going to have to find out why she's here. I mean, she couldn't have just landed here by accident, I don't think."

Zane watched her a bit anxiously, as he'd seen her watching him and Erin and had seen the longing and some other emotion-had that been sadness? on her face. He had quite excellent peripheral vision.

Jo pulled away and rested her head on her other hand for a moment, sighing. "I'll have her given a genome and dna scan tomorrow, although I'm positive that we're her parents. I mean, it's not like there isn't a resemblance. We will also have to have her run through the network at GD so she can be allowed back in tomorrow." Worrying her bottom lip, Jo ran through thoughts faster than light.

"JoJo, sweetheart, we need to go," interrupted her thoughts. Zane was examining her closely, much more calm than she thought he'd be. "Erin's getting hungry."

"Of course." Jo shook her head to calm herself, and started the car.

EUReKA

Zane was worried at how visibly ruffled Jo was. Checking the backseat which had been quiet for some while, he glanced back at _his_ daughter, his and JoJo's offspring, and instantly felt pride. To know that somehow, he and Lupo had still ended up together and had a lovely daughter to dote on seemed to make their relationship even more important in that moment.

Seeing how out-of-sorts Jo seemed as she pulled up to Café Diem, Zane glanced out at the rain that had restarted on their drive back from GD and got out. "Stay here, I'll get take-out and we can eat at my place." Jo didn't answer but he saw her slump back into her seat as he walked into the café.

Zane ordered for the three of them, remembering back to his days as a kid to determine what to get Erin. Vincent shot him a curious glance as he filled the orders, to which Zane replied to the unasked question, "I've been feeling hungry in the middle of the night recently. Been needing that grilled cheese lately." Nodding, Vincent handed the to-go containers to Zane, still slightly suspicious. Grabbing them, Zane thanked him and left before Vincent could ask too many prying questions.

Jo was in the exact same position as he had left her and he leaned over and kissed her cheek to wake her.

"Do you want me to drive?" he asked in a low voice near her ear. Eyes still shut, she replied.

"No, no I'll be fine, besides it's only a few blocks. We need to get home anyway, I think she's…" here, Jo visibly paused and swallowed, and then continued, "I think she's tired and probably up too late anyway. But first she needs to eat something." Jo started the car again and drove to Zane's house, pulling into his driveway. She parked, and rested against the steering wheel, hunched over.

Zane pulled himself out of the car, making a mental checklist of everything he needed to do to get Jo and Erin settled, as Jo seemed quite tired and overwhelmed with what had happened, and Erin was literally asleep on her feet. Zane gathered her up in one arm and then went around to the other side of Jo's car and opened her door. He leaned against it, watching her as she refused to move. Deciding something, he carried Erin inside and laid her on one side of his bed. Next he picked Jo up, whom having fallen asleep by now, only nuzzled his shirt with her face as he carried her inside. Smiling down at the woman he'd fallen in love with, he set her down gently on the other half of his bed. Going out to Jo's car one last time, he grabbed the food and locked her car up and came inside. Deciding he wasn't hungry anymore, he put the food away in the refrigerator and went to check on his girls one more time. Grabbing his pajama pants and a t-shirt, he stood at the entrance to his room, watching Jo and Erin. While he didn't consider himself an overly sentimental man, seeing his girlfriend and child in his bed left him with an odd feeling of contentment and happiness. Making sure that they were comfortable and covered with blankets, Zane left the room, cracking the door slightly so he could hear if one of them woke up.

Changing in the small bathroom off the kitchen, Zane flipped off the light and walked into his living room. It was a small room, off the back of the house, diagonally across the house from his bedroom, something Zane wasn't sure he liked, what with Jo and Erin in there. Feeling uneasy for some reason, Zane locked his front door and glanced outside. It was still raining, with a vicious wind blowing, probably somewhere around 25 knots.

Throwing a blanket over himself, he fell into a light, restless sleep on his couch. Normally he slept like a rock (not all the time though) but tonight his mind turned to nightmares, specifically ones about his girlfriend and their child.

After the third one, he woke up suddenly at the sound of breaking glass. Instantly alert, though with fear-sweat still covering his face, he could hear the sounds coming from the kitchen and grabbed the closest thing to him, a heavy book that had been laying on his coffee table. Getting up, he started to fear for the girls, regardless of how Jo could kill a man with her bare thumbs, as he could hear the treads receding. Luckily however, when he reached the kitchen and exchanged his book with a knife, the intruder had left the house. However, he still checked on them, unable to pull his sight away from them for long.

It was about four in the morning by the time he dragged himself away from his doorway and tried to get a few hours of sleep before he had to go in to work the next day. Deciding that he would deal with the mess of the vandal the next morning, Zane was worried that if he fell asleep again, the burglar would return. Falling into another light sleep anyway, Zane was able to stay asleep and nothing happened for a few hours.

An incessant beeping noise invaded Zane's not-so-pleasant dreams of him holding Jo and being unable to save her as she lay dying and an older Erin watching on. His alarm, for once, was a welcome distraction from sleep and Zane woke up tired, somewhat cranky but relieved that Jo and Erin had slept through and been safe last night.

He quietly slipped into his room and grabbed some clothes for work and glanced at the time as he finished changing and cleaning himself up. _Argh, have to go wake Jo up so she can have time to go home and get changed, not that I want her to leave._ Overcome by a strange protective emotion, Zane worried about her going back alone.

Walking back through the kitchen, he cleaned up the mess the burglar had left when they broke the kitchen window. After having checked everything and concluded that the thief had taken nothing but the toaster oven, Zane decided not to worry too much and would get Henry to repair the window later in the day.

Stepping quietly into his room, he observed how adorable Jo and Erin looked together and allowed himself, just for a moment, to imagine himself waking up to this every morning, only with Jo as his wife. Thoughts of a future like that spurred him into moving his plan up, although he was still cautious around her, as he did not want to accidently end up having her push him away. Seeing her asleep though, with her expression soft, her face buried in her daughter's hair, as well as her arms wrapped around the small body, hugging Erin so that her back was to Jo's chest made her look very maternal, loving, and vulnerable, too.

Zane was unwilling to disturb the peace, but he knew he had to get them up. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, behind Jo, he reached down and kissed Jo on her neck. Her eyelids started to flutter and her face moved out of Erin's hair as he trailed upwards, finally kissing her eyelids just as she tried to lift them. Meeting his ocean blue eyes with her own, sleepy chocolate ones, Jo smiled and then yawned and asked "Is it morning already?"

Zane smiled down at her and patted her arm gently where he still held it. "Yes it is, sleepyhead and somebody's got work to go to." He fake gasped and looked around dramatically, at anywhere but her. Narrowing her eyes at him, she mockingly glared at him, the half-smile on her face telling him she wasn't mad at him, but merely playing.

Turning her head back so she faced Erin, or the back of Erin, she closed her eyes. "I was somewhat almost hoping it was a dream. I don't really know what to think about her-it's all so unexpected. But certainly not unwanted," she mumbled the last part, but Zane still caught it. Kissing her hair once more, he got up to let her get up. She slowly untangled herself from Erin and slid off the bed, rising swiftly, only to stumble back to the bed, where Zane caught her before she fell.

"Whoa, whoa, you alright?" he lifted her chin so that she was looking at him as she grabbed her head.

Wincing, she replied, "I think I have a headache and just now I felt like I really wanted to go back to sleep."

Giving her a concerned look, Zane ran his fingers softly through her hair and said, "You know you can take a day off, Jo. You are the head of security and you have to learn how to delegate sometime." Shooting her a half-smile, half-smirk, he let her know he was joking, but it faded as she sat back down on the bed.

"Um, no, no; Mansfield wanted that section three report in yesterday, but Carter didn't have it ready for me. Honestly I don't know how he gets anything done without me there to prod him on the whole way. I'll be fine, Zane," moving slower this time, she grabbed her heels from the floor and her suit jacket from the chair in the corner, and stood up.

"We'll have to get something at Café Diem, unless you want the food from last night," Zane commented from the other side of the bed as he approached Erin to wake her up.

Wincing once more, Jo buttoned her suit jacket and turned to look at him. "That's fine, but I'm going to stop by my house first; need to change." She smiled softly at the sight of him trying to wake their little girl.

Erin opened her eyes sleepily and gave a little yawn. Zane smiled at her and poked her nose. "Hey little sleepyhead, welcome back," made her mock-glare at her dad and have a bit of an attitude with him.

"I'm not little Daddy! I'm in the seventh grade! How can I be little and yet in the seventh grade?" she fake pouted as she got up. Thus, she missed her two parents exchanging surprised looks.

"Well, I guess she got your smarts," Jo said shortly, turning away and walking out of the bedroom. While she knew that the girl looked like her, and talked like her, she had obviously the brains of her father, not that that was a bad thing, but it made Jo feel somewhat inferior, as though she was the only non-genius one in the family.

"JoJo wait." Zane threw up his hands, as he realized what she'd been thinking. Apparently Jo feeling inferior because of her street smarts, not book smarts (not to say that she wasn't book smart either), had been a problem in their relationship in the previous timeline too, according to Allison anyway.

A small voice asked him from where she'd been sitting behind him on the bed, "Daddy, why is Mommy mad? Is she mad at me?"

Zane immediately turned around and scooped her up, telling her in a reassuring voice, "No kiddo, nothing's your fault. Mommy's just a little aggravated right now, but we're going to go talk to her, ok?"

Jo had slipped into the bathroom while he had comforted Erin, so Zane went into the living room to wait. After clearing some of the junk off the floor, he made some room for Erin to play with some of his old tinkering projects while he thought up a cover story for her. Finally deciding on something just as Jo walked into the room, he looked up and could tell she'd been crying, but not out of sadness. Out of despair or frustration, more likely. Deciding not to say anything, he stood up and met her at the doorway, where she stood watching Erin.

"Hey, you ok?" he asked first, to find out if she was really ok.

"Yea, I'll be fine, let's just get some food and then we can stop by my house on the way to GD." Jo clutched at her head for a moment, then straightened up, looking up at him purposefully.

A remote part of Zane's brain felt a thrill that even when wearing heels, Jo wasn't the same height as him. The top of her head was only just level with his nose and he felt a bit of smug possessiveness that he was still taller than his smoking hot girlfriend. Bringing himself back to the moment, Zane nodded and then bent down and hugged her, a spur-of-the-moment action. Whispering in her ear he added, "she's almost as beautiful as you," and "if that's what only one of our children looks like, I'd hope the rest look as stunning as you do." He kissed the side of her face as the smile started spreading across her face. "It doesn't matter whether she's book smart or street smart, because she's got the best of both of us," he added quietly, pulling back a little, to gauge her reaction. Jo looked down, insecurity getting the better of her and then glancing quickly back up at him, as he could see the tears that had started to form in her eyes as she bit her bottom lip.

Before she could continue the horrible treatment of her lips, he captured hers with his and threw all the love he felt for her into it. Softly he kissed her tears away and then moved back to capture her lips again. She melted into him, his hands winding around her waist and grabbing the back of her head as hers slid into his hair. He tilted her head for better access which she willing gave until they were reminded they had an audience.

Small giggling caused them to break apart, but Zane retained his hold on her waist as they both turned to face a happy five-year-old. Erin had stopped her tinkering on the old piece of junk and was watching them, wide eyed as her mother and father (well, the younger versions anyway) made out in front of her, her small, chubby hands pressed tightly to her mouth to muffle her giggles.

Zane smiled at her, pushing Jo's head against his chest, where she fit perfectly, tucked under his chin and waggled his eyebrows at his daughter. A thought occurring to him, he asked Erin, "Did the …other… versions of us do this a lot too?"

Erin, still smiling, nodded and her smile faded. "Well, at least up until the end, they did," she looked down as she sniffed heavily and started to cry. Concerned, Jo shifted out from Zane's embrace, and after sharing a worried look, both started toward their offspring. Jo knelt on the floor next to the small girl and embraced her, a slight bit awkwardly, as she was not used to this situation, but when the little girl wrapped her arms around her, she stiffened only for a moment then relaxed a little and looked back at Zane whose hand had come to rest on her shoulder. Turning the two girls towards him, he embraced both of them, both looking like they needed reassurance, Erin securely in between Jo and him.

Laying her head on Zane's chest once more, Jo tried to get the sobbing girl to talk, to explain what she had meant, but there was no getting any more out of her for the time being. Zane shook his head at her and she silently complied, just resting there for a few minutes before she happened to glance at the clock on one of the end tables.

"We really need to leave now, as it is we're going to be late," Jo briskly picked up the now softly hiccupping girl in her arms and felt around in her pockets for her keys with her free hand.

Zane, completely forgetting what he'd been about to tell her earlier, _Damn, her lips are distracting!_ slowly pulled away and went to go get them. "I took them to lock up your car yesterday, after you and Erin fell asleep. And you know, you're really the only one who likes to get there 'on time'," as he made air quotes around 'on time' to signify that while Jo made her own schedules and liked to stick to them, others (Zane) weren't so organized and arrived whenever.

Grinning back at him, Jo grabbed the keys from him and jerked her head slightly to her car. "C'mon let's go, you can get your bike at Café Diem."

Strapping Erin in, Zane complied, the happy little family driving off for breakfast.

_Wow, so this ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be, but Zane just kept demanding that little things be added in, like the scene with him and Jo in the living room and the schedule scene. Anyway, longest chapter I've ever written and I know the plot is a little slow, but I'm trying a different tactic than all of my other stories where apparently I switch things up too fast. So trying to stretch this chapter out a bit, for the next one will be slightly shorter at Café Diem and then up at GD. However, I have to work later today, so not sure when the next chapter will be posted. _

_I thought that showing Zane's thoughts and reactions to his kid and Jo's reactions put everything in perspective a little bit more. Anyway, next chapter things start to heat up, as much pressure is forced upon Jo, Erin, and even Zane. Stay tuned and review! _


	3. Enter: Erin Akira Donovan!

Jo parked in front of Café Diem and held onto Zane's arm to prevent him from getting out right away.

Giving him a serious glance, she said, "Zane, we need something about where she came from."

Flashing a smooth smirk at her, he answered, "Already have one, babe. She's going to be your niece or some other relation, as the resemblance to you is more pronounced and she's just taken a liking to me. Now, she just got in late yesterday and she loves cookies. Isn't that right sweetheart?" Zane raised his voice with a smile so that his daughter could hear him.

"Cookies? WHERE?" Erin practically bounced out of her seat as Zane grinned broadly at Jo.

Lifting his eyebrows at her, he said, "See? Got it all under control." Adding, "Oh and because she's five, she calls us mommy and daddy. Nobody has to know about her IQ level." Both Zane and Jo were sure hers was very high, as evidenced by her schooling so far.

Shaking her head and smiling a small smile, Jo got out, hoping nothing would go wrong. She couldn't think of anything worse than her own daughter getting sanctioned for time-traveling. Except maybe Zane getting incarcerated because of time-traveling, except that so far, he was the only one out of their little family that hadn't done it yet. She hoped desperately that that was one thing she wouldn't have to worry about happening to him.

She got Erin out of the car while Zane checked his bike to make sure nothing had happened to it during the night. Locking her car one-handed, she and the bouncy five-year-old waited for Zane who joined them after a minute. Waiting for him, Jo experienced a blinding flash of a horrible headache, her head feeling like it was literally splitting open and then it was all over just a minute later. She almost dropped Erin from the pain and took deep shaky breaths to try to calm her racing heart. Zane was now next to her looking concernedly at her, and he took Erin from her and Jo's hand, to make sure she wouldn't fall over suddenly. "Let's get some food in you," Zane murmured to her as they approached the entrance and went inside.

There weren't a lot of people inside, but Zane and Jo stopped at the counter anyway, since they needed to get to GD soon. Vincent had watched them come in and raising his eyebrows at the young girl, he greeted Jo and Zane with "I have pancakes on the griddle for you Zane and here's your smoothie Jo. And what may I get for you, little miss?" He handed Jo her protein smoothie and then addressed Erin.

"Cookies!" Erin smiled a slow, wide smile and bounced up and down as much as was possible from her father's arms. Both Erin and Zane looked at Vincent at the same time and he was struck by just how much their piercing blue eyes looked the same. In fact, if he looked closely enough, Zane and the girl looked related too. But glancing over at Jo, and then back, he could also see the resemblance between the two girls as well. But before he had a chance to really examine just how much the young girl looked like the two adults with her, Zane distracted him slightly.

"How about a juice box and some cereal and fruit, Vincent?" Zane butted in the conversation hurriedly. Seeing Vincent's disappointment and Erin's mournful expression, he relented and added "Alright and a cookie too. But only one. Someone just got here and can't be all hyped up on sugar, right?" and he fondly bonked Erin lightly on the nose. She fake-pouted and then smacked him playfully on the head. Giggling, she covered her mouth with her hands and managed to still say "Daddy! Stop teasing me!" Chuckling, Zane looked back at Vincent, eyebrows raised and shrugging, said, "what can I say, she's five."

Vincent, who was already charmed by the little girl, asked in a somewhat lower voice, "who is she? I haven't seen her around here before. She's so adorable."

Jo, throwing a glance at Zane, spoke up. "She's my cousin's daughter. He had to go away for a while and his wife is busy. They asked me to take her for a bit and she's quite attached to Zane."

Vincent, looking back at Erin, commented, "She looks a lot like you, Jo. Lupo genes must be very prominent." He said this last with a smile and then asked, "what's her name?"

"My name's Erin Akira Donovan!" Erin grinned widely and all of a sudden, the café was dead silent. The patrons were all glancing at Jo and Zane curiously, as Vincent, adding fuel to the fire, casually added, "Pretty eyes, too. She wouldn't happen to be related to you too, would she now?" aiming his question at Zane.

Inwardly wincing, as he'd forgotten about the last name issue, Zane outwardly stayed calm and shrugged. "Don't think so, I mean, I never had many relatives. The nicknames she has for Jo and I is her way of getting comfortable in her environment." Casually grabbing the food cartons and hanging on tightly to Erin, he turned and headed slowly for the door, speaking in what seemed like an overly loud voice to Jo, faking cheerfulness. "Yes, pancakes, my favorite!"

Jo was very conscious of all the people still staring at them as they exited the restaurant. Once they were back in the car, Jo gripped the steering wheel tightly and exhaled loudly. Zane just sat back and closed his eyes, holding his forehead for a moment.

Without moving, Jo mumbled to Zane, "That was complete bullshit. Everyone in that café now knows she's related to both of us, and that she's our daughter."

Zane sighed and agreed. "As much as I hate to say this, we both know it's true. The news will be all over the town by tonight." Glancing through the doors of the café, he could see almost everyone in the café gathered around the counter, and he glimpsed money changing hands.

"And they started a betting pool." He remarked, sliding his eyes over to Jo who hadn't moved.

"About what? Everything's painfully obvious already."

"Probably about whether or not I was telling the truth about not being related to her." He reached over and stroked Jo's hair once.

"Do you still have that headache?" He moved his arm back after asking.

Jo didn't answer for a moment and when she did it was only with "it's on and off. It just got worse a moment ago, but now it's receding."

Both adults looked to the back when Erin leaned forward in her seat belt and addressed them. "Mommy? Daddy? I'm hungry. Can I have my cookie now?"

Zane and Jo smiled at how adorably innocent Erin was and Zane reached back and ruffled her hair. "Sure kiddo, but you need to eat your other food first. We're going to stop at Mommy's other house for a minute too, though, ok?"

"Mmkay!" uttered Erin happily as Zane popped her food carton open and passed it back to her as Jo started the car.

"JoJo, I'm going to take my bike, but I'll drop by your house on my way to make sure you're ok. Make sure you grab some aspirin before you leave home. Also, do we really want to bring her to GD? I'm not sure I like the thought of our daughter going into that danger zone." He said the last part lower than the rest.

"I don't like the idea either, but we won't be able to keep her a secret for long and she'll have to get checked out. Plus I want Allison to examine her to make sure she's ok from her little journey." Jo glanced back at Erin and Zane saw her maternal protectiveness at the forefront of her emotions and it made him feel protective of both her and Erin.

"I also want you checked out." Zane said as he kissed her and got out to take his bike. Rolling down the passenger's side window, Jo looked ready to argue until she winced and a hand went to her head.

"See? That's worrying me and I want you checked, just to make sure it's nothing more than a headache." Zane strapped on his helmet and got his bike gear on.

Jo rolled her eyes and said drily, "I didn't know you cared, Donovan." He grinned in response and told her "I love you too, Josephina." At this point, Erin rolled her own window down and waved energetically at her father.

"Bye Daddy!" She called, over the roar of his engine starting. Zane waved to both of them and gestured for Jo to precede him to her house. She pulled out and he followed, not noticing most of the crowd at Vincent's pressing their faces against the windows, watching the three of them. They'd heard the last parts of their conversation and the betting pool was growing larger by the second.

Vincent smiled, as he collected money by the door. He knew something was up, and was very close to finding out exactly what.

_Aaaaaaaaaaand thusly concludes the Café scene! I had the cutest little movie playing in my head the whole time I was writing this. Little Erin was bouncing around everywhere, hyper off cookies, while Vince was standing around, scratching his head and trying to figure out her relationship with Jo and Zane, who during the awkward pancake scene were very self-conscious and Jo was slightly blushing and Zane was like ( panicmode) in his head and all Mr. Smooth on the outside. Very fun little chapter. Next one should be up soon! *authoress dies on table and starts snoring 'cause it's 1 in the morning and I spent the mostly the whole night writing this and listening to the owl in my backyard* bye for now yall!_


	4. Some Shocking News

_You have no idea how much easier it is to write Jo and Zane in a relationship as opposed to the awkwardness-sorta-lovin' they have right now in the show. I much prefer them romantically involved!_

Jo parked her sporty blue Mazda and turned to her daughter in the back seat. Smiling at her, she patted Erin's leg gently and stumbled a bit over her words, "Your…father…will be here soon and he'll stay with you while I get changed okay, Erin?"

The little girl turned her attention from the remains of her food to her mother and patted her mother's hand reassuringly. "It's going to be ok Mommy; Daddy's back now!"

Jo shot her a confused glance just as Zane opened the driver's side door, dangling an extra set of her car keys from one hand.

"And you were the one who wanted to get to work _on time_," he emphasized with air quotes, half sarcastic, half teasing.

Jo stepped out of the car, causing Zane to back up a little. As she went to grab the keys out of his hand, saying, "how'd you get a copy of my keys," the headache once more slammed into her brain with the force of a supernova. She staggered back against her car, both hands going to her head as her eyes shut and would have fallen if Zane had not caught her. Sandwiched between him and her car, she unsteadily opened her eyes to see a pair of blue eyes dark with concern for her fill her entire area of sight.

Forgetting that he wasn't her Zane for a moment, she leaned against him for a moment, weariness overtaking her. Still watching her, Zane bent his head a little closer, examining her face.

"That's it. I'm driving." Still peering worriedly at her, he called back through the open driver's door. "Erin, sweetheart, come in the house for a minute. Mommy isn't feeling well," the last said with absolutely no snarkiness or teasing tones.

The small five-year-old popped out of the car and ran over to her parents. Tugging on Jo's suit jacket, Erin peered worriedly up at her mother, her black hair swishing freely around her shoulders and a pair of very blue eyes that reminded her of a certain someone gazing at her in concerned curiosity. Jo realized a second later that two eerily similar pairs of those eyes were trained intently on her.

"Mommy, are you alright?" Clearly aware something was up, Erin was very sharp, just like her mother and father in that respect. Jo glanced down at her daughter, then up at Zane, both of whom just gazed back at her, Zane's eyebrows raised.

"Yes, … sweetie," Jo was hesitant in answering, but found that the nickname for the adorable copy of her and Zane rolled off her tongue quite nicely. Turning her back to them slowly and distancing herself from the overly perceptive pair behind her, she closed the door of her car and handed her set of keys to Zane, who still had his own copy too.

Proving chivalry wasn't dead, he offered her his arm, convinced anything more would just highlight that she wasn't feeling herself and he was unwilling to get tasered. For her and now Erin, he would do almost anything, but being tasered wasn't a favorite activity.

Leaning more heavily on him than she'd like to admit, Jo gratefully took his arm and he helped her up her front steps and into her pretty little blue house.

Erin trailed around them, eyes that looked so much like Zane's overflowing with curiosity. As her father made sure that her mother was ok, she plopped down on the couch and sighed happily. "Yay, home!" she smiled and crawled over to her mom who'd sat down at the other end, with Zane hovering worriedly over her.

Shooting his daughter a confused glance, Zane decided to store her comment for a later, more appropriate time. Glancing back at Jo, he saw that she was getting up, mostly steady, and heading for her room. "JoJo, should you really go into work today?" was said with her best intentions in mind, and yet she still threw him a frustrated glare.

"Of course!" she hollered through her partially closed door. "I have to go to work sometime and Erin needs to be registered and scanned. I'll be fine as soon as I have aspirin, ok? So stop worrying about me and worry about Erin. I'll be out in five minutes. Let me shower then we can go."

Standing guard by her partially cracked door, and resisting his ever growing urge to peek at her, he distracted himself by asking questions of Erin who was lying horizontal on the couch and making faces at the ceiling. However, she sat up straight when he addressed her and told her answers with a bit of a sing-song tone.

"Erin sweetie," Zane started, folding his arms across his chest, _great, now I'm starting to act like Lupo,_ he thought and pulled his mind from the woman behind him to the little girl in front of him. "You had said that this was home earlier. Does this mean that in your time, you, me and Jo lived here?"

Erin bounced her head with a big grin, until it slowly dropped off as she spoke. "Well, Niall, Jackie, Alex, Mommy and I live here, only its bigger, and you did too, until one day."

Zane tried to keep the confusion off his face as so many questions manifested from just that one sentence of hers. "Wait, so first off, who's Niall, Jackie and Alex?"

Erin kept her gaze locked with his as she answered his question, her face open with raw honesty. "Niall and Alexander are my brothers and Jaclyn's my sister."

Zane thought his head was going to explode. _FOUR KIDS? He'd eventually have FOUR children with his JoJo?_ It was going to take a while to wrap his mind around that one. A slow smile started across his face as he imagined four little black haired, blue-eyed children running around causing havoc for both him and Jo. He could get used that idea very fast. The grin grew into a smirk as he imagined Jo's reaction when he told her just how many children they'd end up having. She'd freak for sure. Anticipating the interesting conversation that would follow that comment, he turned back to the little girl. Something she'd said before had also caught his attention.

"What did you mean by 'until one day'?" he gave her his full attention, and was alarmed to see large tears leak out of her pretty eyes and she flung herself at him, her answer mumbled into his pants. "What's wrong Erin-bear?" he knelt so he was level with her and pulled her into a hug, finally hearing what she was saying as she repeated it over sobs.

"I'm so sorry Daddy! I didn't mean to hack the school's profile the day before! I only wanted to change my science grade, I swear! I just wanted you to be proud of me." The last was mumbled into her hands as the tears came faster, pouring down her face and soaking his shoulder.

Zane, wondering what exactly had happened, shushed her, stroking her hair. "Hey. None of this now." He placed his hands on either side of her small face and marveled how it fit perfectly into his hands. "I will always be proud of you, Erin. Whether I act like it or not." Her responses made him question what exactly he'd done wrong to make her feel like she had to impress him and what had happened after. Although he was secretly impressed that she'd also apparently inherited his hacking skills.

"Bu..but, you always praised Niall and 'Lex whenever they did well in physics and Jackie won that science fair intern last summer and you never said anything when I got an 80 on my earth science test." She drooped almost visibly in his arms and he pulled her closer, his keen hearing picking up the fact that the water had just stopped in the shower. That meant he only had a few more minutes to get as much out of Erin before Jo made a reappearance and they had to leave.

"Sweetie, what precisely happened that made you so sad?" Zane tried to convey a sense of urgency in his voice while simultaneously keeping his kid calm.

"Well," she hiccupped and then continued, "it was about January 17th, and Mommy had gotten called to your lab early because you had been on the verge of a breakthrough for the cure to a special type of cancer. So she left Niall in charge, and he was supposed to get us to school on time and everything."

Here Zane broke in with something he had just thought of. "Erin, who's the oldest? Like, what ages are the four of you? Besides you, obviously" He smiled fondly at her as her tears had mostly cleared up but she still looked sad.

Sniffling, she answered, "Niall's the oldest, and he's 12. Then Jackie, and she's 10 and a half, Alex is nine and I'm five. And before you ask Daddy, Niall was born in 2012."

Quickly running through the mental math, Zane was astonished with the resulting numbers. _Wow, I guess Jo and I were _quite _busy for a while!_ _Which probably means that we were married for at least a year, maybe two before Niall's born, so that means…either next year or the year after, Jo becomes my wife!_ Secretly overjoyed with that knowledge, Zane also calculated that Jo and he had been married for around 14 years at the time when Erin was sent back in time.

Tugging on his shirt, Erin said, "I'm not done yet though. Niall got everyone to school, but we did end up being late, 'cause he never sets his alarm. He's so lazy!" Here she pouted but only for a second before continuing, "Anyway, Mommy had sent Jackie a text earlier that she would be around to pick us up after school, only she never did." Erin dropped her face and buried her face in the crook of his neck at this point and clutched him harder, as he wrapped his arms around her, sensing her need to be held. "Mommy's assistant, Mr. Hale came to pick us up in one of the Big Brothers car. Only one other time that happened and that was when Mommy nearly got killed in the reactor explosion. So we all got in and when we met up with the FargoDirector, he took us to Mommy who was …" the sniffling from his neck got louder and he could tell that Erin had inherited some of Jo's self-control from her too as Erin tried to muffle her emotions.

Stuttering, she let out the final part and Zane froze. "Mommy was sitting by your bed, only you were under a sheet. Why did you have to die, Daddy?"

_DUH-DUN-DUN! (cue dark, dramatic music here) I was going to go further with this, but I felt like that was a good cliffhanger to leave off with. Anyway, don't kill me as I have SATs, but I shall try to get out the next chapter soon! So no promises! Enjoy and review!_


	5. Nothing Remembered

Zane stared over his daughter's shoulder, his hands frozen around her small frame as she sobbed against him. Trying to restart his brain, he resurfaced from the thousand scenarios running through his mind at her words.

_So in her time, I'm not around to see my children grow up,_ Zane thought and the actual meaning hit him hard, a second later. Infinite sadness filled him as he thought of his children growing up without their father; him never being able to show them all his hacking tricks, take them star-gazing at the cabin he owned just outside of Eureka, while Jo would struggle to try to take care of them, grieve in her heart, and work at the same time while never saying anything to anyone, because that was just who she was.

His thoughts almost immediately turned to Jo as he could hear her changing. A notion occurred to him and he asked Erin in a low voice, "How did…my death…affect Mommy?" he used Erin's name for Jo without cracking a smile.

His daughter only clung to him tighter and tried to rub her tears away, "She…she wasn't the same after, daddy! She never even saw me when I went to hug her; she only stared at you under the sheet, holding your hand. She said she would come back with us, only she didn't. She tried to leave us, three times! after you left us forever. But once she found out,… " Zane stroked her back reassuringly as he tried to come to terms with his death and the resulting consequences.

_Jo tries to commit suicide. Three times? _Zane thought, his eyes training on her as she stepped past him and Erin in the doorway and turned back, alarmed by the quiet sobs she could hear. Dressed in her power suit with a pretty purple button down under it, Zane could almost see the wife of his she'd become and how much she loved him, both in this timeline, her past timeline and the future one too. Awed for a moment by her loyalty to him in any reality, he definitely felt that he didn't deserve such a powerful, faithful, future-wife.

Whispering quietly in Erin's ear, he told her hurriedly, "Don't tell Jo what you just told me," as Jo got down on her knees by them.

Smiling softly at his lovely (sort-of) girlfriend, he mouthed, _bad memory,_ in Jo's direction. Nodding at him, she stroked Erin's hair once and using a lower voice than normal, asked her, "Sweetie? Ready to go?"

Zane, still watching her, felt his smile melt into a smirk as he observed how adorably maternal Jo could be. He felt like he was discovering a side of Jo that no one else had seen, except possibly Zoe, since the two girls were like sisters.

Standing up, he gave Jo a hand up from her awkward position on the floor and kissed her before she could pull away. It was a soft, quick chaste kiss, just enough to show Jo that Zane really loved her. Pulling away, he smiled her favorite smile again at her and mouthed, _I love you, JoJo_ before taking Erin by the shoulders and steering her out the door, making airplane noises along the way.

A bit mystified and befuddled at the way Zane was acting, Jo brought up a hand and touched her lips where he'd kissed her only moments before. Her lips broke into a smile and she followed the rest of her family out the door, locking her house up and sliding into the passenger's seat, as Zane had refused to let her drive her own car on account of her mysterious migraine.

The said evil headache came back to haunt her as she mulled over Zane's odd behavior in the car, the two of them sneaking glances at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. Zane had just pulled into Jo's parking spot and had gotten out when Jo stumbled out of the car, hands clutching at her head. Throwing her head back, her face contorted viciously with pain, she screamed, then passed out; Zane and Erin hurrying over to her side as she dropped to the ground. Catching her just before she hit the ground, Zane slowly eased her into a sitting position, Erin glancing worriedly at the both of them. Gently, Zane shook her, trying not to make the pain any worse.

"JoJo," he repeated softly, growing more concerned by the second as she did not respond.

After a minute though, Jo came around with a groan and clutched weakly at her forehead. Mumbling somewhat, she gazed up at Zane, who kissed her forehead in relief and tucked her forehead under his chin as he tried to hug her as close to him as possible.

Erin's exclamation of "Mommy!" only reinforced the befuddled look on Jo's face, as Erin too, hugged her. The little family just stayed like that for a few moments before Zane felt he had his emotions under enough control to let go of her.

He was deeply affected by just how much pain Jo's scream had been laced with and was truly worried about her. Pulling back just a little more, he noticed with some consternation, that Jo had a bit of a glazed look to her beautiful brown eyes and Zane resolved to get her to the infirmary if it was the last thing he did.

However, the voice that spoke next broke his heart.

"Who are you?" came from Jo, a puzzled look on her face, wrinkling her brow. Zane peered at her as he slowly felt his world shattering, just like his heart was currently doing. However, she wasn't talking to him, he realized a second later. He saw the glazed brown eyes looking at a worried Erin just before they closed.

_Ok I realize this is a short filler chapter, but the next one will be much longer, assuming that's what the story wants. I'm just sort of the typist now; I've lost control of this thing!_


	6. A Troubling Discovery

_Sorry this is soooooo late! I do have valid excuses though! Finally finished my second round of SATs so hopefully I'm off the hook for a while. Sorry about the wait!_

Zane sat with his head in his hands, unable to concentrate. He was at his lab bench, but not much work was actually getting done. Scratch that, nothing was getting accomplished because he was so worried about Jo.

She'd fallen asleep, clutching her head in the parking lot, a small favor that Zane was grateful for. He didn't think he'd be able to stand it if she didn't know who _he_ was next. However, one look at his daughter, and she felt the same. She'd been crying silently the whole time.

Zane, placed in an uncomfortable situation, silently held out an arm and she almost ran to him, reluctantly eager for comfort. Erin had buried her face in the crook of his neck and he'd hung on until she'd stopped sniffling, at least. Then, gathering up her mother, Zane made sure that Erin was near him as he walked inside. As soon as they'd gotten inside, Erin buried her face in his shirt hem and hadn't moved from there until they got to security.

After arguing vehemently with Jo's second-in-command for roughly fifteen minutes, Zane was allowed to take her and Erin to the infirmary, but not before all three of them were given retinal scans and badge checks. Erin was given a visitor's pass with the understanding that Zane would be taking her to see the Director as soon as Jo was seen to. He'd balked against the authority being pulled on him, but understood it was a necessary evil for the facility. Heck, his own Jo had designed half the system. The original had already been in place before her time.

After depositing Jo with Allison and staying for a good two hours, they still hadn't found anything wrong with her yet, other than the fact that she wouldn't wake up and the fierce, splitting headaches she'd been experiencing. Allison had kindly suggested that Zane should take Erin to Fargo and try to get at least a little work done. She'd already known about Erin and who she was because the sheriff had told her. He'd agreed, on the condition that he was to be kept apprised of any new developments.

So he and Erin had left, turning heads in the hallways with their similarities in looks and posture. By the time they reached Fargo's office, Zane had picked Erin up to shield her from all the stares and a few hostile looks for Zane. He wasn't well liked around the building, but since he'd started hanging out with Jo, he'd gotten better, not that that did anything for his reputation. But many curious stares were thrown at the small black-haired little girl in his arms.

He almost sighed in relief when they reached Fargo's office. Almost. But once they'd had a little "chat" with the sonic protocols engaged and Fargo found out that Zane knew mostly everything, he panicked. After Zane had finally gotten him to shut up, (another half hour later), he explained that he hadn't and wasn't going to tell anyone, now that he had two people to protect. He then quickly skimmed over the details of Erin's arrival, which earned him a suspicious glance from Fargo, who wasn't convinced. But once he got a glimpse of Erin, the resemblance was so strong, even he couldn't deny it and so agreed to go along with the story that she was Jo's cousin and was only staying a brief while. While he didn't like the fact that Allison had told Zane, he figured that Zane wouldn't rest until he'd figured it out. And frankly, it was more reassuring that he swore on his own life, that he wouldn't tell anyone.

Fargo had agreed to let Erin stay with him for a bit, away from private eyes, and while Zane didn't exactly trust the man, Jo seemed to, so what she thought was good probably had to be. Zane had whispered to Erin not to reveal anything about their family situation in the future to Fargo and Erin had promised she wouldn't. Still, he had to admit, that watching his five year old daughter boss the Director around was pretty amusing.

But Zane still worried about her, not that he would admit it. Dragging his hands down his face, he felt it was "manly concern" to be nervous that his young daughter was under the care of his incompetent and ungainly boss and his girlfriend was still unconscious with a brutal headache in the infirmary. He'd gotten no updates from Allison, so he supposed that was a mixed blessing; while nothing good had happened, nothing bad had happened, yet, either.

He'd already been yelled at several times by Parrish, who was really starting to get on his nerves. He could see the man making his rounds out of the corner of his eye and nearing Zane sitting at his bench.

Zane uselessly tried to concentrate on the interior assembly of the damaged Sky Cruiser he was supposed to be working on, but he really just wasn't into his work today. Sometimes he was, sometimes he wasn't. Today was just one of those days.

Parrish had reached his lab desk by then and had started lecturing him on something or other, and he looked fairly pissed. _Shit, my pagers going off and Parrish'll wail on me if I ignore him completely. Ah, what the hell. _Zane yanked out the tiny device and completely tuned the good doctor out.

The message turned out to be from Allison and he didn't know if it was positive or not. It read, _Zane, I think I've identified Jo's problem. Meet me in the infirmary in five minutes. _

EUReKA

Zane skipped out early (A/N: Not literally skipped!), completely ignoring Parrish who was absolutely livid, but utterly unsurprised. It wasn't the first time Zane had skipped out on work early and certainly wouldn't be the last. Parrish sighed and turned to one of his underlings, yelling at them to pick up the slack caused by Zane. Sometimes his minions were _so_ dumb.

Zane felt like dragging his feet and running at the same time. Picking up his pace, he just managed to make it into the elevators before they closed. Ignoring the techy in the corner on his phone, Zane directed his attention back to thoughts of Erin. He hadn't seen her since lunch, when he'd gotten her something from the cafeteria, and then gone back to work at the beratement of his boss. She'd seemed ok and showed him the advanced spaceship-designing program Fargo was letting her work on. He'd internally glowed with pride at the thought of his daughter designing spaceships at age five. She was so brilliant, an obvious trait from him, and absolutely adorable, a trait from her deliciously hot mother.

That train of thought just led to the conversation that he and Erin had had in Jo's house and that brought him full circle to worrying about both of them again. Glancing up impatiently at the extremely slow elevator, he tuned back into his surrounding to hear the tech guy say, "…well, we're working on a tight sched…no, no, sir, everything will be set up just like you demanded, sir." His voice dropped and he glanced surremptiously at Zane, who pretended to be absorbed in his own thoughts. He continued in a much softer voice, that Zane strained to catch, though he affected a façade of marked apathy. "I'll have to be careful though, don't want them thugs after me." After listening a moment longer, he hung up and kept glancing at Zane nervously throughout the remainder of the ride down.

Zane was through the sliding doors even before they had opened completely. He internally grinned at the nickname that everyone had given to Jo's security staff whenever she wasn't around. Hm…the technie had been sweating quite profusely when the call ended. Whoever his "boss" was, made him nervous. That was quite suspicious. While Fargo was just a pain-in-the-ass, he wasn't intimidating, so it certainly couldn't be him.

But Zane completely forgot about the sweaty, nervous guy who was in the elevator with him, when he stepped into the infirmary. Dr. Blake was waiting for him and that was never a good sign. Glancing over at Jo's sleeping form as he approached Allison, he noticed an IV line in her arm and without preamble, demanded to know what was wrong now.

Allison was touched to see how much Zane cared for her young friend, but quickly got down to business.

"Well, we've isolated what's causing her headaches, or might I reclassify them as migraines. And I think I know what caused it too, but need to do some further research to verify my findings."

Zane, following her to her computer station, glanced over the readings and then back at Jo. "So that means that this virus thing is causing her headache?" Particle physicist he was, medical doctor he was not.

"Yes," Allison pointed to a diagram on her screen. "Look, here," she pointed to another structure, "and here".

Zane, finally finding something he understood, nodded slowly and looked at Dr. Blake. "You said you have an idea what caused it?"

Allison met his gaze and said, "yes, but I need to run some tests on you and your daughter, to make sure you don't have the same thing." She held up a hand to forestall Zane's complaints that they were fine. "It looks like it can also lie dormant for a while before activating, so I just want to be sure. It will just take a moment, then you can go get Erin."

Zane sighed reluctantly and hopped up on the closest bio-bed. He rolled up his sleeve as Allison drew blood, then left before she wanted to try anything else. He really needed to check on Erin anyway. Blake would know how he felt. She had her own kids.

He made it as far as the end of the rotunda before Erin burst out Fargo's office door and jumped at him.

"Daddy!" she squealed softly at him, looking at him with beautiful luminous blue eyes. She closed them and buried her face in his neck. "I missed you."

He closed his eyes, her face still so similar to JoJo's making him miss her smile and her being around in general. Yet he'd also missed his little girl, (right now) the only product of an (eventual) union between him and JoJo. "I missed you too," he smoothed a hand over her hair, and kissed the side of her head. He stood there just for a minute, just holding his child, and felt at peace for the first time that day.

But duty called, regardless of his feelings, so he turned, with Erin still in his arms, and began walking back the way he came. Softly, he whispered to Erin, "Let's go visit mommy, shall we?"

Erin grabbed his neck to hold on and looked at him earnestly. "Will she be awake and know who I am this time?" she asked, partially restraining her feelings, but enough sadness showed through to Zane.

Zane wished he could give her better news. "I honestly don't know sweetheart. I don't know." He murmured to her as they got in the elevator and Erin hid her face again in his shirt, her black hair tumbling around her shoulders.

When they arrived at the infirmary again, and Erin was parked at her mom's side, Dr. Blake got her blood sample and went to her computer to wait for it to process. She watched Zane and Erin around Jo, Erin sitting on the bed next to her mom since she was small enough to fit. Jo was just sleeping now, so they were careful not to make noise, but just simply to be together. Zane swept her hair back out of her face and Erin placed a kiss on Jo's cheek. Allison smiled at these small instances of intimacy and turned back to her computer.

However, the smile dropped from her face as she read the report over again.

It seemed that however Erin had gotten here, she'd brought with her foreign particles that were slowly killing Jo. If Jo didn't get treated soon, she would die, and so would Zane, albeit more slowly, as he'd been infected later.

Dr. Blake was hesitant to spoil the moment, but she knew he'd want to know.

"Zane? Can I speak to you in my office for a moment?"

_OOOOO cliffy! Muahahaha I know, bad Copper but I made the chapter extra long for you guys to make up for the wait! 4 pages!_


	7. Little Bits of Fluff

Zane stared down distractedly at the floor. Erin bounced around next to him, oblivious to his internal strife. For once he was glad she was so young, so innocent.

He was going to have to tell her some of the situation soon, anyway. But for now, he'd leave her in the dark, to not worry her.

His mind warred with his decision. Glancing slightly to his left, Jo lay asleep on the infirmary bed, trying to regain some of her lost sleep.

They'd both been working long hours recently, leaving very little time to hang out with each other or sleep. Their not-date had been the first time in three weeks that they were going to hang, well, at least until Erin showed up. Now he wasn't sure if Jo and he would even be around long enough to have Neal, let alone Erin.

Looking up from his hands, he held out his arms to his youngest, who eagerly bounced to him, hanging on tightly when he lifted her.

Turning to face Jo, he was startled to see that she'd woken up. She still seemed exhausted, but she was looking at Zane approached with Erin in his arms. She seemed like she remembered them now which was odd. He'd have to let Allison know about the change later. But first to attend to Jo….

"Zane?" "Erin?" Jo's voice barely raised above a whisper. She stretched out a hand, her face turning pale from the effort. Zane quickly grabbed it with his free hand and squeezed hers, trying to rub some life into her through her hands.

"Hey Jojo. How're you feeling?" he asked softly, wary of her answer and giving things away if she wasn't fully aware of everything yet.

"Exhausted. Disoriented." She paused, "I have a headache, but I'll be fine." She moved to sit up and Zane quickly moved forward and supported her back as she clumsily sat up.

Erin, who hadn't said anything up until then, just reached out her arms to her mother, who gladly took her from Zane. She clung tightly to Jo, who cast a worried look at Zane over Erin's shoulder.

The room was silent for a moment, with background noise from the people working in the infirmary fading as Jo rubbed Erin's back reassuringly. Looking at Zane again, Jo silently communicated their need to talk soon. He understood, nodding slightly, his light eyes burning into her dark ones.

Noticing that Erin had fallen asleep on Jo, Zane took the opportunity to kiss Jo, softly and sweetly. He tried to pour all of his love for her into it, so when she pulled back reluctantly to breathe, she was breathing hard and her dark eyes searched his for the meaning of his suddenly powerful love.

Jo shifted Erin to her lap as Zane, feeling uncharacteristically tender, gathered his girls to him and hung on tight. Jo's head fit perfectly in the crook of his neck and Erin was nestled comfortably between the two of them on Jo's lap. He kissed her again, but this time she gently pushed him away after a few moments, panting heavily, to silently ask him why he was acting weird, and worry beginning to show in her eyes.

Zane never acted like this and to see him very concerned about both her and Erin made her concerned that something big was wrong. If something had gotten Zane upset, who never worried about anything, then she should most likely be worried as well.

Zane dropped his face to inhale Jo's scent, his nose in her hair, smoothing down the rest of her long hair with his left hand. He murmured quietly into her hair, so that Erin wouldn't be able to hear if she woke up, "Blake figured out what caused your headache and she thinks it came from Erin-from the future."

Only after Jo had received the report on Erin's DNA from Hale, forwarded most of her electronic work to the tablet Allison brought her, "disciplined" Fargo for running off in the morning and leaving Erin alone, and had said small girl parked on her bed next to her could she relax a little. It was getting late, but she still had lots of work to get done before she went to sleep. She glanced over at her daughter who was squinting hard at something on her slate computer and mentally sighed. She had yet to apologize for her lapse in memory that morning and she kept putting it off.

Technically it wasn't her fault, but she could tell she'd hurt Erin, however unintentionally.

Jo mentally sighed again and laid a hand on Erin's shoulder. She didn't look up, but mumbled a "mhmm?" at her mother.

"Erin.." Jo paused, not exactly sure how to go about this. But finally finding words, Jo started up slowly again.

"I just wanted to say, that…" she swallowed and forced out the words, "I just wanted to let you know that I will always love you, regardless of what I say or do."

Jo paused, debating the truth of her words as they would impact her future self and Erin. She wasn't sure how exactly she and Erin got along, but she wouldn't miss it for the world.

But remembering what Zane had said, she didn't know if she would be around long enough to have Erin or marry Zane.

Marrying Zane. Something she'd wanted since the previous timeline with all her heart. While she was still a little hesitant with this Zane, he had so far shown that he returned her love enthusiastically. While their relationship was a bit rough at times, it had been too in the other timeline, so that was hardly a change.

Erin brought her out of her thoughts by hugging her, burying her face into Jo's stomach, which muffled her words.

Jo had to question her as to what she'd said, when Erin repeated it louder, head still in previous position.

"I said, me too, mommy. Me too."

_And on that note, I leave you with this little piece of fluff. I do apologize that it's taken me so long to update but with finals and the ACT coming up, I have been rather swamped. Plus, I got three different infections and got sick on top of it this past week. It has not been a fun weekend for me. So I figured I'd better update while I'm still alive right now. Enjoy!_

*_Special thanks to Lonovan for motivating me to get this chapter typed up and posted!_


	8. Another Unexpected Delivery

Zane walked into work a week later, humming. Though his head was aching something fierce, he hadn't yet had any other problems. He and Jo had agreed not to tell Erin yet and said girl hung sleepily onto his shoulder, her face buried in his neck. He patted the girl's back soothingly as he remembered Jo almost forcing him to take her home. _Home. Such a nice word, but it'd be even better if Jo and Erin were both at my home, _Zane thought.

Right now, he only had Erin, as Jo was still staying at the infirmary as her amnesia was getting slightly worse. Some days he would walk in in the morning and she wouldn't know him or Erin and then at lunch she'd all but attack them, complete with mumbled apologies for forgetting them earlier.

He would brush off the incidents where Jo's memory faded; knowing that she would remember later, but was a bit worried about Erin.

While outwardly not showing anything (she really was her mother's daughter), Zane could tell that she wasn't adapting very well to having her mother half forget her then remember her later. At night, Zane would try to get her to open up and talk about it, but obviously Erin wasn't used to this, as Zane wasn't around very much in her lifetime, up until the point that he died, apparently. So she was left mostly to her own devices, although Zane tried to interact with her a lot, so that she could at least get used to him now. Erin did however, sleep in his bed. The first night after Jo was in the infirmary Zane had let the little girl choose where she wanted to sleep, and she chose the couch. But about ten minutes after Zane had lain down in his own bed, he'd heard her soft footsteps approach his bed and opened his eyes.

He couldn't believe that the adorable little girl standing in front of him was really his and Jo's child. But as she met his eyes with her own widened ones, and timidly asked if she could sleep with him, since there were monsters under the couch, he gladly scooted over and made room for the small child. As soon as she'd gotten in, she'd curled up facing him, placing a hand on his arm, as if to reassure herself that he was there and for real. When he'd woken up, it had been to a face full of Erin's pretty hair which reminded him so much of his girlfriend's.

Walking through the rotunda, he was stopped by one of the men who worked under him, who, after inquiring about Jo and Erin, handed him the lab results of the virus he and Jo had. The man left Zane alone to take in the news. Grimacing at the disastrous end to the experiment he'd run earlier, Zane rubbed his head, his headache distracting him from his thoughts. Continuing across the wide, currently empty expanse, Zane walked to the infirmary before he got started on his day.

Noting that the automated nurse 'bot was on duty, and that the human staff wouldn't be around until normal work hours, he took the opportunity to observe Jo without her or anyone else knowing. Slipping quietly into the chair next to her bed, he scrutinized her sleeping figure. Other than looking a little thin and pale, with dark circles under her eyes, she seemed to be doing well. Barely brushing her forehead with the back of his hand confirmed that Jo didn't have a fever.

Taking the small child who was asleep and wrapped around his neck, Zane placed Erin gently on the bed next to her mother. Watching them sleep for a few more moments, Zane got up with an inaudible sigh, and kissed both of them, brushing back a few loose strands of Jo's hair as he turned to leave. He looked back at them one last time before the doors slid shut behind him.

He was walking to his lab and happened to glance at the time on his tablet. 6:10am. It was very early for him, but he didn't mind at the moment. Not after having seen his adorable girls sleeping soundly. That scene would be forever burned into his memory; that quiet morning.

He was just stepping into the rotunda to cross it to get to his office as a bright flash of light forced him to shield his eyes to avoid being blinded. For a moment, Zane could also hear an odd, high-pitched keening noise that clashed violently with the quiet silence of the morning it had just interrupted.

Just as abruptly as it had come, the noise disappeared and so did the light. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Zane went to step forward, only to stop as his converse met flesh. There, lying face down on the floor, was a body.

Erin cracked open an eye as the atmosphere around her changed. Noticing that she was no longer with her father, and instead curled up next to her mother in the infirmary, Erin lifted her head, her eyes suddenly clear. She almost felt the change in the tangibility in the air, as she sensed the presence of someone she hadn't seen in awhile. But figuring the feeling could wait until she had had another few minutes of sleep, Erin burrowed into her mother's side and closed her eyes again. _No, it can't be him…_ she thought as she drifted toward the darkness.

_I know this is a short one, but I wanted to get something out to show my wonderful readers that I haven't forgotten this story. Now that I have more time, I should be updating sooner. Enjoy!_


	9. Same Family, Only Bigger

Zane's eyes widened as he slowly looked down. He was met with a sight he wasn't likely to forget anytime soon. A young boy, in his very early teens, was lying face down under Zane's foot. He quickly removed it and with almost a touch of fear and more than a little curiosity, he turned the brunette boy over gingerly. A face almost completely identical to his stared back at his shocked face. The boy moaned weakly and Zane was brought back to his senses. Drawing his eyes away from his near perfect twin's face, Zane quickly checked the boy over for injuries, noticing bruises and slight cuts all over his body. Frowning down at those, Zane failed to notice the boy's return to consciousness.

"Dad?" a voice whispered uncertainly.

But Zane had already guessed as to whom this was and wasn't about to reject another one of his supposed four children. Looking back at the boy, he was met with Jo's soft brown eyes. "Neal?" Zane met his child's eyes and before he knew what hit him, Neal had launched himself into a fierce hug for his dad as Zane quickly responded. Holding the strong young boy to his chest, he picked him up and glanced around. There wasn't anyone in the rotunda, but he could see some people in adjoining halls, so he started out of there, before he drew too much attention to himself and his son.

_His son_. What a wonderful thing, that Zane had his son with him now. And while he looked exactly like Zane, one look at his eyes and all Zane saw was his mother. Although, according to Erin, Jo and Zane of the future still had two more children; a boy and a girl.

He glanced at the boy now curled on his shoulder, and who was probably too heavy for him to be carrying this way, but Zane didn't really care. The boy wasn't that heavy and Zane was relishing the feel of another of his children. To be on the safe side, Zane was taking him to the infirmary to make sure that his trip hadn't been detrimental to his health. He also had to show Jo and Erin their latest arrival. He just hoped that Jo wouldn't freak.

However, when they were alone in the elevator, Zane was suddenly hit with a violent, aching headache that had him stumbling backward into the elevator wall. Still aware that he was holding his son, he gently set the almost-asleep Neal down.

When the boy looked at hi somewhat worried, Zane just grimaced back and sank to his knees. Hanging his head, he gritted his teeth and ground out, "Give me a sec, ok, Neal?" Zane could see out of the corner of his eye that the boy stared seriously at him for another moment, then, in a rare display of affection, hugged his father's neck.

Zane inwardly winced at the extra pressure around his neck, but stubbornly refused to black out, as the stars around the edges of his vision continued to slowly spin, then disappear. The doors binged, and as Zane's headache slowly released its heady grip on him, he stood up (he refused to think that he was a bit shaky) and pulled up Neal into his former position around his neck. Disregarding the gaping scientist from section 3 who stood at the doorway, Zane strode slowly out and towards the infirmary, feeling like he'd been spending far too much time there recently.

The door to the infirmary slid open and Jo paid it no mind. She was busy tapping quietly away at her tablet with Erin's head sleeping on her stomach. But when she didn't hear the doors close again, she looked up.

Zane stood in the doorway, just staring silently at Jo. But what shocked her more was the young boy clutching his neck like a lifeline. Jo put the pieces together and realized that that boy was probably one of their future sons. Unconsciously gasping, Jo set aside her tablet and pulled the sleeping Erin a little closer.

It seemed like only seconds before Zane was suddenly much closer and bending over her to kiss her forehead and slowly turned their sleeping son's face around so she could see him. Her eyes widening momentarily, she turned to him again and whispered, "He looks exactly like you! Which one is he?"

Zane, keeping his voice low, explained how he got here and concluded with "This one's Neal, and while he looks like me, he's got your eyes, sweetheart." Zane shot a loving gaze at his girlfriend and she blushed, darkly.

Leaning over quickly, he planted another kiss on her, only this time, on her lips. It lasted only a few seconds, yet seemed much longer to the two of them. Eventually they broke apart, Jo panting a slight bit and Zane smirked. "It seems like it just gets easier and easier to make you do that every time."

Blushing now, Jo looked away and reached out a hand to caress her son's face. The boy unconsciously leaned into her touch and she smiled softly. Looking at Zane again, she grew alarmed at the twisted expression on his face.

"Zane?" she half-whispered.

He set Neal down on the bed next to his sister, and then closed his eyes, and gripped his head, face screwed into an expression of pain. Only when he felt Jo's hand on his arm did he open his eyes again. Peering at him worriedly, Jo's eyes met his own and silent communication passed between them as Jo suddenly realized that he was having terrible headaches too.

"Not you too!" Jo groaned, lying back on the bed. "At least one of us has to be well to take care of them, and it _was_ you for a while." She unconsciously pulled the siblings closer to her, with both of the children's heads resting on their mother.

Zane sat back up with a sigh, the headache leaving quicker this time and looked up to one of the most adorable sights he had ever seen in his life.

Jo was cradling two of her children close to her and was looking the most maternal he'd ever seen her. Besides the fact that they weren't home, Jo was holding _his_ children close, her long brown hair gently brushing over their faces as she kissed both of them on the forehead and pulled them closer and for that, he would forever have the image burned into his mind. Zane didn't know if his other two children would show up, but if they did, then Zane definitely wanted their mother to be able to see them.

But with both of them in deteriorating shape, he wasn't sure they'd be able to last long enough.

Looking back at Jo again, Zane whispered, "I'm going to go see if Blake has something for the headache. I'll come collect them after work today. If she has something powerful enough to stave off the headache before it progresses, then maybe I can work around it to find a cure for you."

She looked up, concern for her boyfriend evident in her soft brown eyes and met his lips once more. "I'll look after them until you get back" she whispered, hoping she could remember who her family was long enough to take care of them.

_And thus ends this chapter. Eh. I felt kinda like I was rambling during this but oh well. It got most of my point across. Let's hope my lovely readers liked it better than I did. And thanks to all the reviews and readership that's come from this story! I do believe that this is my most viewed story! So thank you good readers and enjoy!_


End file.
